Hurricanes hope to keep momentum going at home vs. Flyers

Now the Carolina Hurricanes will see if they can translate what became a historic road trip to home ice.

The Hurricanes swept a road trip of three or more games for the first time in franchise history over the past six days, and now they're back home to take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night at PNC Arena.

"We got to keep getting better," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I think there's a whole other level for us. We'll definitely take the wins."

The contests at Buffalo, Minnesota and Chicago marked the 200th road trip of three or more games. Three of the next five games for Carolina come at home.

Just getting points in the standings wherever the games are contested is crucial in Brind'Amour's opinion.

"It's important for us because you can't gain any ground in our division because everybody wins," Brind'Amour said. "There's just no margin for error."

The Hurricanes have been good at home, with a 7-3-0 record.

The Flyers defeated Carolina 4-1 on Nov. 5 in Philadelphia, but they've struggled in a recent stretch.

Philadelphia is coming off Tuesday night's 5-2 loss at Florida, allowing the most goals in a game this month. The Flyers are winless in their past four games at 0-2-2, all against Eastern Conference competition.

"You have to stick with the process and keep doing the right things and sooner or later those pucks go in," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said, noting his team played strong in the final period at Florida and hopes to use that as momentum. "... Sometimes you go through something like this and you come out stronger."

The Flyers also are aware there have been too many gaps in their performances.

"Some things we can clean up," Philadelphia left winger James van Riemsdyk said.

Flyers rookie center Morgan Frost scored in his NHL debut in the Florida game. He became the first Philadelphia player to score in an NHL debut in more than six years. Overall, he's the 24th Flyer to score in his first game.

"There was definitely a lot of good plays with the puck that he made for us," Vigneault said. "A young player getting his first kick in the NHL."

The Flyers have had a youthful influence on the team, with Frost becoming the fifth player to appear in his first NHL game this season.

"Come up here and do my thing," Frost, 20, said. "They're giving me an opportunity here ... so I'm really excited about that."

Carolina is getting plenty from second-year right winger Andrei Svechnikov, who is tied with Sebastian Aho for the team lead in goals with 10. He has tallied points in nine of the past 11 games.

"He's getting so confident out there to make plays," Brind'Amour said. "He wants to get better. He wants to be a superstar ... and he's heading in the right direction."

Carolina had concerns about defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who left the ice with an injury Tuesday night at Chicago. He returned later in the game, and the Hurricanes took Wednesday off.

"He's a big part of what we're doing," Brind'Amour said.

--Field Level Media